The University News

Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: Culture

Media Credit: Kara Caldwell Ardith "Sunshine" Smith overcame dark obstacles.

A fork and sugar container were once tools used to ensure survival for Ardith Smith. During her four-year prison stretch for 66 charges ranging from theft to forgery and $416,000 in fraud, Smith confronted another inmate who disrespected her. The inmate spit on Smith's food before 800 others. In return, Smith cracked her head with the sugar shaker, stabbed her with the fork, and broke her nose. Smith received 159 days in the hole for not showing weakness.

"[Prison] is nasty, dirty; it's not a nice place at all," Smith said. "If you don't stand up for yourself, you will be victimized in there ... There's no glory in being incarcerated."

It is difficult to believe this 56-year-old woman with soft blue eyes once spent almost nine years of her life in and out of prison. Even harder to believe is this grandmother is currently pursuing a master's degree at UMKC. There are clues to her past, most notably, in how Smith's dialogue slips easily from street talk to academic aspiration.

"I just grew up to be a criminal," Smith said. "It's not like I was stupid … I had a Ph.D. in street. I was good with checks…credit cards, anything I could convert to cash."

Born in 1950, the biracial woman called "Sunshine" was branded with the nickname by her grandfather. As a child, "Little Miss Sunshine" would be up early hoping her grandfather would let her accompany him farming.

With a grandfather that showed her as a toddler to shoot a pistol and a bootlegger father, Smith was instructed on being a criminal by those around her. By 16, Smith was doing crime full-time. She graduated high school in 1968. She didn't "catch her first case" until 28. Smith racked up charges in seven different states and was in and out of prisons until the '80s.

"It was hard to stop doing the wrong thing," she said. "It was like an addiction to drugs or alcohol. My addiction was money."

Smith has a photo album that highlights her life. It begins with a photo of her in a diaper holding a gun. Photos of lovers, prison socials, and fancy cars follow. She kept a faded picture of herself at age 23 carrying an expensive handbag with $144,000 stuffed in it. As the photos become recent, there is one of Smith's grandchildren, an inspiration for giving up that lifestyle.

Continued...

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